Autism Therapy: visual cueing

As is usual, Christmas and New Year’s have come and gone in the blink of an eye. Did I enjoy it? I can’t remember…it really was a blur. Actually, I noticed that I enjoyed the holiday season less than usual which breaks my heart. Being so worried about Jonathan’s job and money put a damper on things, but we made merry nevertheless. The kids had a great time opening presents and stuffing their faces with junk food from Christmas Eve all the way through Christmas night. Everyone was very generous as usual, especially Santa. Thomas loved his bicycle and actually was pleased to wear the helmet as he rode the bike around the living room, sending knick-knacks and cats flying, as I foresaw.

One shocker, however, was that the bike was not his favorite present. Mrs. Claus saw in Barnes & Noble one of those Klutz kits with a human skeleton and book in it. Mr. Claus was not enthusiastic about buying it, believing that young Thomas wouldn’t really care for it. Was Mr. Claus ever wrong! Thomas loves that skeleton so much that it is still in one piece and he puts it in its little display case every time he’s done playing with it! He also got a pop-up book about the human body which he really seems to get into.

Hayley has not yet shown an aptitude for any specific area of academia. She got the Barbie Overpriced Diamond Castle and several of the dolls that go along with and she was quite thrilled with that. Both of the kids got clothes from certain people, and those people know who they are, and I thank them most heartily.

I took the tree down on December 28, a full two days later than usual. It was also a forty-degree day so we went outside with the new bike while I took down the outside lights. The kids toys are getting smaller (and more expensive) so we didn’t immediately need the room in the house occupied by the tree. Thomas eventually conceded that the bicycle should live in the garage which was a huge win for me. We re-arranged Hayley’s room to accommodate Barbie’s new digs with little trouble and I just purged all of the old give-away stuff from the kids’ rooms. I’m going to start on the closets and dressers in all the rooms next.

New Year’s was a quiet affair. My sister, her new husband, and my other sister came over and we played games and tossed back a few. Very low-key and we didn’t have to find a babysitter since everyone came to us! That kind of New Year’s, with my sisters and brother-in-law is beginning to be a tradition because we did it last year too. I’d be happy if we did that kind of thing every New Year’s forever.

The rest of the holiday break went swiftly…It felt like it flew by. This past Tuesday, we saw Thomas’ neurologist for a check-up. We both lamented the bad luck that the Focalin, while immensely helpful for Thomas’ ADHD symptoms, also caused that disturbing facial tic. She has started him on Strattera which is for ADHD symptoms, but is not a stimulant like Ritalin or the others. It can still cause tics, but maybe it won’t because it works differently. He’s going to continue with the Clonidine as well because that happens to be an anti-tic medication in addition to all of the other things it can do. Strattera is a medication that “banks” or “ramps up” in your system, so it may be four to six weeks before we notice any improvements. Or tics. But I’m trying to stay optimistic. I told his service team at school that he is on this new medication and they should observe and report.

The first week back to school was great for Thomas, mostly because he spent all of break asking when he’d go back to school again. He really enjoys it, or he needs it; either way, he’s cool with school. My brother-in-law and his fiancée gave Thomas and Hayley their own little dry-erase boards for Christmas and I had a brainstorm yesterday as I was cleaning and de-crapitizing (I made that word up, but I bet you know what it means). I decided to draw a little picture schedule for Thomas on his board to help him get dressed in the morning. He has such a difficult time completing multi-step tasks. I cannot just tell him, “Go get dressed.” He has to have constant verbal cues about what to do next. So I drew little pictures for him on the board: taking off pajamas, putting on shirt, putting on pants and putting on socks and shoes. Here’s the problem: Thomas can’t read and I’m not a very good artist. So we have to kind of work on it together. The whole point eventually is for Thomas to not need the visual cues anymore and just get dressed when I ask him to. Hopefully, by springtime he’ll have it down. That’s a good goal, I think.

Today at school there was a sock-hop for all of the kids who didn’t have any “office referrals” (that’s “not being sent to the principal’s office” to you and me). Since kindergartners are generally never sent to the principal’s office, the whole class got to go and Thomas’ teacher said that she wished I had been there to see! He danced with a nice girl in his class (holding hands, even!) and he did the Bunny Hop with the other kids…he completely participated and even enjoyed himself a lot, it seemed. Actually, the girl that he was dancing with has been his “special friend” lately and the teacher has had to remind Thomas about personal space. This little girl is a sweetheart and very smart; she can already read, actually…but I thanked her for dancing with Thomas today.

So the weather here is crummy again. Those meteorologists should all be canned. The high here next Wednesday is zero. Zero degrees is the high. Honestly, if we can’t make the house payment or buy food, it’s not going to be because Jonathan was laid off! It’ll be because of the awful weather! At least there’s nothing you can do about the weather. Nobody’s to blame.

Hopefully, we’ll have a good few days sometime late next week (or next month…or never) to make a snowman and take the kids sledding. Thomas really loved sledding last year and I’d love to take him again. I’m still waiting for weather conditions to be right for taking them to school on a sled like a mush-dog.

For now, we’re holed-up in our little house, peering hopefully through the curtains every day looking for sunshine, crossing our fingers as the car sluggishly cranks and then barely catches on those coldest mornings, being thankful that we have heat and what we need to get by for now. Taking it one day at a time, I guess.